A tormenting philosophy
by Maid-of-awesome
Summary: A story about one of Twilight's minor Characters. Jared, this is basically his life and how he coped with the massive change. Its set in la push but it is all mine; a completley new storyline. this is traumatic and may have some intimate scenes later on.
1. Chapter 1

A Tormenting Philosophy

Preface 

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

Chapter 1

Jared grimaced and rolled over in his sleep. He was drenched in cold sweat as he clenched his clammy hand around his pillow. He jerked awake, his eyes wide with fear. He was some-what calmed that he had escaped his dream and drew a deep breath as he lay back down. Staring at the familiar, comforting, ceiling above him. He had found the only way out of that dream. For he knew that no other way existed. Once he was in there, he could not escape. Never.

He turned his head and checked his alarm clock. It was 1:52pm. Good thing it was a Sunday or he would have missed school again. He slowly got up. He shivered, it was cold in his room, but maybe it was the salty water that still covered his pale body. Jared decided to take a shower. He swept the damp hair out of his face and headed for the bathroom.

He pulled his t-shirt over his head and discarded it on the wooden floor.

Turning on the shower, Jared let the water consume him.

After his shower, Jared put on a clean shirt and jeans before slamming the heavy door behind him. Jared sprinted down the path and into the cover of the woods. He needed to think. What was that dream about? He couldn't remember it at all yet it was all he could think about. He didn't stop, darting between the wide trunks and avoiding thick branches, until he tripped over a tree root. He lay in the undergrowth laughing. It made him feel so much better. A moment of bright before the darkness returned, as he knew it would. He wanted this to last longer. This was the only place he could really laugh. It felt so natural, lying in the leaves, just relaxing. Not having to worry about people judging you with cold eyes, arrogant minds, and hard smirks.

And then there was that piercing gloom again. How many times had he felt like this since it had happened? He didn't know, nor did he want to. Why couldn't he shake this off? The number of times he had encountered this dream, and yet, he still could not defeat it. Jared knew it was only his mind but it was the loneliest place. If he could at least remember the dream. What did it mean? Why was he so stupid as to let this bother him so? Jared spluttered as a leaf landed between his parted lips.

He scrambled to his feet and walked over to the nearest tree. It was a good tree; tall and sturdy, with many branches and hundreds of dark leaves. The bark was rough and thick; perfect for climbing. He scaled it with ease, soon reaching the top. Once there, he pulled a pad and pencil from his pocket and began drawing. He could see everything. The whole of La Push, stretched before him like a painting which the artist was asking his opinion on. The houses scattered around in abundance. Little cars navigating their way along the roads, twisting and turning through the remote town like a maze. Far off, he could see the ocean. And the larger town of Forks, merely a few minutes away.

It was nice to live in a small town where you knew everyone- nice or otherwise- the rest of the Quillette tribe were the only people he belonged with. He could probably name the owners of each car he saw. Except one, it was a green Honda. It seemed to be lost. It kept reversing and going a different way. He watched the little car's progress, intrigued. In the end, he saw a woman get out and begin talking with a local, who started making hand movements indicating directions. The woman nodded, shook the hand of her savior and got back into her car. He suspected they were tourists. There were few tourists in this wet little cove.

But before he could dwell on the subject much longer, his stomach growled loudly. What time was it? He jumped down from the tree, forgetting how high he had climbed, and landed heavily. Ouch. His knee thumped the earth and took most of the impact for his rough landing- Jared was not the most graceful of people.

He ran home before 'K' realized that he was missing. She would not be pleased if she found out that he had gone. Besides, he hadn't realized how hungry he was.

The house was empty when Jared returned, never the less he slipped quietly through the door and slunk into his room. It was already 6:38. He arranged some homework on his desk and sat down with no intention to attempt it. Waiting for his sister to arrive home from work, she would make tea. And then it returned. That dry feeling of; Guilt? Why? He had cleared hi mind of all dwellings on his hideous dream. Why should he be guilty for that? The thought angered him. What was happening?!

'Jared. Jared are you there?' 'K' called once she was inside the house, interrupting his line of thought.

'Hey'

'I'm home.'

'Yes, I gathered that'

'Tea'll be ready in around an hour' she said, opening the door to his room and peering in at him. 'Ah, you're doing homework, that's good.'

'Mm' Jared grunted.

'How was your day, do anything exiting?' Jared shook his head. 'It's nice to see you had a shower. You stank. Anyway I'll be in the kitchen if you want help.' And 'K' left the room. Leaving Jared with the aching anger. He thrust his fist into the wall, denting it and accomplishing nothing but a bloody mangle of skin on his knuckles.

Jared swept the homework and stationary off his desk and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't remember his dream. All he knew was that what he had wanted more than anything was to escape it. To get away from it and never go back. He remembered nothing else of the dream. But it had felt disgustingly familiar. As if he couldn't prevent it. And it would bother him until he understood it. But how could he possibly understand what he dreaded. He couldn't think once he was there. Only watch desperately.

He sat cross legged on the floor, thinking. He snatched up some sheets of paper strewn across his floor. He picked up a pencil and began drawing. Drawing was his only escape, from this world at least.

After tea, Jared returned to his room. He lay in his bed scrutinizing his ceiling as if it was concealing the answers he so desperately seeked. He was so tired. His mind fleetingly came to the new car he had seen today before he fell asleep.

He woke with a start. Jared's blanket slid off him and crumpled on the floor. He sat in horror staring at his shaking hands. Blood. It was all he could remember of his dream. He shook the images from his head as if that would make it all go away. His damp hair clung to his cold face. His t-shirt stuck to his smooth skin as though it were duct tape. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and got up. He slipped on the sketches that littered his floor.

Luckily he had time to quickly change into his uniform and gulp down some breakfast before leaving for school, on time. The only thing he was grateful for was not sleeping in too late, as he had done for the past few days. K was probably at work already. But she hadn't woken him up before leaving- and that annoyed him. She had taken to saying that he needed sleep because of this phase that he was supposed to be going through. But he knew that the dreams were probably nothing to do with her theory. Even if they were the cause of his bad moods.

He trudged into school ten minutes late. The courtyard was empty and silent as he passed the bushes and completely ignored the gravel path that led to the entrance. He walked through the front doors and slid down the corridor towards his form room. He stopped only for a moment before swinging the door open and walking into the silent room. Everyone turned to face him and he winced as he said 'Sorry I'm late miss,'

'This is the third time this fortnight! I'm afraid I'll be seeing you in detention after school Jared.' Mrs. Blod said in a welsh accent. He sighed and walked over to his chair where he immediately began a conversation with Carl.

'Hey, Jared, what's up mate?'

'Meh, I slept in again'

'Dude, you really need an alarm clock.'

'as if I didn't already know that.'

'Hey, have you seen the new girl Caraa yet? She is like, _unbelievably_ hot dude. Check her out' Carl pointed across the room to a slim girl with very dark ginger hair. She was sitting next to Anne and seemed to be very uncomfortable. She kept shifting in her chair and laughing nervously. She glanced in Jared's direction and her dark grey eyes lingered there for a brief second before returning to Meg, who had just asked her a question. 'I think she was looking at me!' Carl sounded exited. 'I hope I sit next to her in a class. So what do you think? Isn't she fit?'

'I think she's a bit- I dunno, she just doesn't look very different from some of the other plastics in our school. Besides' he said at Carl's look of shock and awe 'I think the jocks have their eye on her. She's a new toy for them. And I dunno 'bout you but I don't want my face re-arranged for some chick I don't know.' Carl seemed convinced but he sighed and kept looking at her until the bell rang.

'Mr. Collins, a word if you please.' Said Mrs. Blod in a valleys accent. 'I'll meet you in French' Jared called to Carl as he put on his bag and headed to the front desk.

'Would you take miss umm-' she glanced at Caraa

'Tyler, miss, Caraa Tyler.'

'-Tyler to get her timetable and I'll forget about that detention for now. Only I've got a class now see.'

'Yah, sure.' Said Jared, glad to get out of his detention. 'Follow me' he jerked his head and walked out the door, indicating her to follow him. He turned up the corridor and led her down some stairs. Jared was about a head taller than her and, although he was a boy, his hair was only just shorter. She glanced up at him apologetically.

'I'm never gunna remember all this. This place is huge and I have a bad enough memory as it is' Jared wasn't paying attention; he was still thinking about his dream. He had hardly thought of anything else since he had first had it. He was still trying to figure it out. So he only said

'mm.' in response to her attempt to start a conversation. He didn't understand why she tried. He saw no point in small-talk. Besides, what did she want with him? Surely she just couldn't wait to hang out with all the popular people in school. She was probably just humoring him, maybe she just was used to men offering to do everything for her.. Or else she was confused at why he didn't seem interested in her. Arrogant bitch. He thought. But by now he had reached reception. 'There you go; they'll give you a map and a timetable so you don't get lost' he turned and headed to French. Yet another class he was bound to be late for. Great.

'Thanks, I'll see you around uhhh… Jared was it?' she asked.

'Yup that's it.' Unless you're too important to be learning the names of social rejects like me. He added to himself. The only people who actually treated him as an equal were Carl, Andy and Liz. His best friends. All the other boys in his year were either in the big gang of Chavs-the arrogant, violent 'hard' guys who strutted around like the were in charge or Jocks-the sporty attractive men who were only interested in women for one reason.

Liz seemed to be the only girl that didn't fall for their charm and looks. None of them were particularly smart but they were confident that they were like gods in the eyes of women. She also thought that the chavs had a superiority complex and pitied them for their arrogance. Of coarse, she was the only girl who felt this way and that was why she wasn't in any of the female groups. The plastics-girls who covered themselves in makeup and flirted constantly with every man they set eyes on, under the insane impression that everyone would do anything for them because of their looks- and the Tottie- rich stuck up girls who looked down on everyone and had older boyfriends and designer handbags.

The only group that he got on with was the Goths, who at least had some brain and had boys and girls in. They liked similar music to each other and wore dark clothes with studs and piercings. They at least were friendly if not weird.

Liz was more interested in fun than men and smarter than most adults. That's why Jared liked her. If their group were to have a category he supposed it would be nerds because of the severe stupidity of the other groups. Geese, 16 year olds were weird.

Jared arrived in French only just on time. He slipped into his chair by Carl and smiled. 'Just made it' it was the first time he had smiled all day. French was his favorite lesson. He was next to all his friends so he didn't have to put up with anyone plus he was rather good at it.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Jared barely noticed as he was dragged around the school to each lesson by Andy and Liz. He was pre-occupied, he had a weird feeling and it kept bothering and distracting him. But, soon enough, the bell went for them to leave.

''You coming?' Liz was shaking his arm rather violently.

'Huh?'

'We're going to the park now, are you coming with?'

'Oh, uhm… Nah. I got stuff t'do, sorry, maybe another day?'

'Suit yourself.' Liz wasn't the type to waste her time. She knew that Jared was out of it at the moment. She just couldn't understand why.

'What's up with him?' Carl looked concerned.

'I really du'no, he's usually up for anything' their eyes followed Jared down the road.

Once out of sight, Jared broke into a run, and soon, he was in his garden. He wrenched open the door. Dropped his bag by the stairs and climbed to his room. Where he collapsed into the bed -though he wasn't remotely tired- and had, if anything, too much energy.

Thoughts kept whirling round his mind, spiraling back to the beginning of his line of thought and branching off into god knows what. Because, unusually, Jared had no idea what he was thinking about.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

Science the next day started as usual, their teacher; Mr. Blake. Gave them the command to use a French phrase as answer to their name in the register. After the register he would walk around the classroom very slowly, inspecting each pupil's uniform. Stopping, as usual, when he came to Kim.

She was sat in a corner, her left hand curled into her stomach and her right was sketching randomly in her student planner. The page was utterly disfigured with scribbled drawings and patterns.

"Why is your jacket still on Miss Jordason?" he looked as ominous as ever, leaning over to be at her eye level. She looked down at the vandalized page in her planner, adjusting her head so her hair formed a curtain between her and the stern face of Mr. Blake. A sort of barrier that was meant to keep it all out. To make it go away. It didn't stop the snide giggles of the class. Smirks washed over the watching faces as they got comfortable for the show.

"She always wears it sir, it's her thing y'know." Lee said, coming to her defense as always. He was a tall dark boy with ripped trousers and studded accessories. A fellow Goth and the only person Kim could relate to properly. Or so he liked to think.

"Not in my classroom. Miss Jordason, I believe we have already been through this many a time. You may be able to get away with that non-uniform coat by other teachers but I am putting my foot down. Now kindly remove it."

Kim continued to stare blankly at the spot on her planner. She wasn't even listening. Why did he always do this to her? Make people focus on her so intently. He was right; he had done this many times before. But it did not make her any more willing to reply to him, let alone co-operate with him. Why should she consider his demand when he was never willing to compromise? It just confirmed her complete lack of respect for this man. He had not earned it. He did not respect her why should she treat him differently? Just because he was old? In her opinion, he had a severe superiority complex. Why must he prove his power every time? Yes, he was a good teacher but he was very irritating, she was set on keeping silent again. As she always did when confronted. This teacher was not going to make her inferior! He would only humiliate himself. No matter what it took.

Jared sighed; he had known Kim for years, since they were very small. She was quiet and stubborn. This teacher continued to cross her. Mr. Blake was an extremely flamboyant man; he liked to show off a lot. Weather it was his Intelligence, his money, his car any excuse. Impudent fool. Jared thought. Drawing all eyes on Kim when she was so shy, now she had covered her face, hiding from view. He hated when people did this to her. Why should anyone else look at her? They didn't even like her. Only out to humiliate her, get a laugh out of it.

But he knew by now that she had zoned out. She was sure to be re-captured in her own little world. This had annoyed him from a small age. If confronted or embarrassed, she would escape into this place in her mind. The ultimate defense. He could tell by now that she was there. Her hair was locked in place; blocking eyes that he knew only too well would be glazed and distant. He hated when she went there. It meant that she was not here, with him.

Kim continued to look at this man, his lips were moving faster but they were muted now, as if someone had turned down the volume. Her mind filled with clips. Short video snaps that cascaded through her mind so fast. She couldn't remember them. Sucked in to each immortal moment then it was forgotten as soon as the next came. They were so clear. Real. But blurry. Indistinguishable from the next. Separate, but connected so intently. She was absorbed, lost.

Brought back by Jared's loud whistle. She knew it was Jared; he was the only person who could successfully rescue her from there. He'd had much practice and as she regained her conscious thought, she recognized the tune, her favorite sound in the world. It was a long time since he had whistled it for her. Since she was about eleven. She turned to face him and he grinned.

She was back, out of her own little world. Jared despised that he wasn't a part of it. He had no part in her life anymore, not since her mother had died.

Mr. Blake had lost a one-sided battle and returned to teaching. Lee flicked her hair from her eyes, and bent his head to talk to her. "Don't worry, he let you be. It's ok now." He sounded proud. As if it was him who had stopped her ordeal. He probably hadn't even noticed her zone out. But now he spoke like he would always be the only one to help her.

It bothered Jared. He almost stood up to yell at lee that he had no idea. He probably didn't even know Kim's mother was dead, but he goes acting like the knight in shining armor. Jared wished it was him to be the one comforting her. He hadn't seen in those deep green eyes for so long.

Jared was distracted for the rest of his tedious science lesson, and barely noticed Andy and Liz dragging him from lesson to lesson. It wasn't long until the bell rang and he needed to head home. He waved his friends a quick goodbye and started towards the huge gates.

"Jared! Jared mate! Over here!" it was Carl. "You're s'post be coming over mine today remember." Of course. Carl had invited him over ages ago but Jared had been pre-occupied with this weird dream and it had slipped his mind.

"Sorry Carl; but I left my stuff at home. D'you mind comin'?"

"No prob's mate." Carl huffed as he came running over. "C'mon then Jar' I got loadsa stuff planned. I just got a new game and we rented Die Hard 4!! It'll be a laugh. Mum got a pile of junk and Andy might be coming!"

They walked quickly, and soon they were heading down the rocky path that lead to Jared's house. The door got stuck as Jared heaved it open, much to Carl's amusement. They jogged up the wooden stairs and soon were at his room. Great, perhaps now I will get a chance to rid myself of this dream. A night with the guys should distract him, for a while at least. Besides, it could be fun. It had been ages since he'd hung out properly with Carl and Andy. He was very much looking forward to it.

He slinked through the door, flicking the switch parallel to the frame as he came in. Jared began picking through the possessions that cluttered his floor, unearthing a couple of sketches in the process. He found a clean pair of boxers and spare clothes for the next day. He whipped up a T-shirt to sleep in and stuffed them clumsily into his rucksack. "Do I need anything else?" Jared turned to Carl. Carl was not paying any attention, he had a piece of paper in his tanned hand. "What?"

Carl paused. Jared got curious and slid the paper from Carl's hand. It was from his sketch book. On it was a delicate drawing. Of Kim. What? When had he drawn this? He had no recollection of it. But it was in his style and he had scribbled his signature in the corner. There was too much detail, it would have taken him ages. Far too long for him not to remember doing so. It was strange, he had not thought about Kim for a while; not since they were kids. Until science that morning. But there was no mistaking that it was he who had drawn it. Subconsciously maybe.

"Awww dude. Its awesome! Kim eh? When you gunna make a move?" Jared went pale. It wasn't that he didn't trust Carl. Just that… well, Kim was… He had known her for a long time. He could relate to her. She was a separate part of his life. His old life. But now? She was just someone in his year. He'd gotten over her when they were separated.

"It's nothing. Probably my sis making a weird joke." Jared shrugged.

"whatever dude." Carl looked smug but let the subject slide anyway. "Come on Andy won't wait forever!" Carl toed Jared along by his bicep Jared's bag dragging along the floor. He just managed to scrape the switch off whilst being dragged swiftly out of his room.

Jared abruptly stopped in the kitchen, causing Carl to stumble with momentum. He rearranged the alphabet magnets on the fridge. Jared fumbled for a minute and stepped back. He re-read the message.

GONE TO CARLS TONIGHT

C U ON SAT

LUV J XX

Carl became impatient and started tugging on Jared's arm again. "Why didn't you tell her when I let you know about coming over? Like a month ago! Now move your sorry ass or I'll kick you to my house!" Jared smirked but started following Carl anyway.

Once out of the house the boys' attention was caught by a bright car. The car honked obnoxiously and pulled up. Andy leaned out of the window casually.

"Are you coming or what?" Andy grinned. Jared and Carl clambered into the back seats.

"To my house!" Carl exclaimed enthusiastically. Carl struck up a conversation –being the loudest of the group- and light chatter took up the remains of the journey.

The drive was quick before long they were all extracting themselves from the indented seats, outside Carl's house they took their bags from the boot and turned into the drive.

"Thanks Mrs. C!" Jared waved at the car as it drove away.

Jared had missed this house. He hadn't seen it in a long time. The run-down building was friendly and welcoming. Jared smiled and sighed. Tonight was going to be completely dedicated to guy time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Jared woke up feeling disgusting. It wasn't the sleepover that had drained him, the loud games and talks and eating way too much junk food than even three grown men could have handled. He wished his problems were that simple, boring, easily rectified, but they weren't. Of course they weren't. This was Jared; he'd have taken teenage angst any day compared to what he was stuck with. It was his damn dream again. He couldn't remember a second of it, yet it was burned into his memories, and once the dream started, it would all come back. Jared was past the naïve belief that this was just some hormonal phase, and that the dreams would eventually stop tormenting him. Mainly because they meant so much, it was like the plot of a very complicated play, in another language. He could never understand, all he could do was feel, and that was all he dreaded from it. That feeling. All of the pain and confused urges that plagued his mind, they weren't his, but they were connected to him by a huge nerve that almost amplified the horror. Flashes of the unknown, except he knew them, off by heart at this point, right up until they changed, like the scenes were mixed up and each new act distracted him from the others.

Remembering he was at Carl's, Jared got up and went to hunt for his things. He could hardly walk; this heat was burning through him, a searing that engulfed him whenever he forgot about it for too long. He hadn't felt like this before, even after the dream, although that had also been particularly bad tonight. It was as if it had redoubled its forces because it had less time to occupy his mind with- Jared only having slept for all of about three hours.

It was very distracting, when you were looking for something, to have these shots of fire run through your system. So it took him half an hour to successfully collect all of his belongings, randomly strewn around Carl's house-what had they been _doing _last night?! After searching for so long for his shirt, he was quite scared to find it in a kitchen draw. Smiling to himself, Jared enjoyed the rest of his bizarre clothes hunt. The others only woke up when he had located his boxers, under Andy's head, and unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge them without waking him up. This slightly annoyed him, trust Andy, the laziest person he knew, to wake up the one time Jared had been trying not to wake him.

"Jared? What are you doing...? How the hell can you be _awake_ right now? And _up_ and doing stuff? I'm-"Carl yawned, "so tired."

Andy just made an unrecognizable moaning sound and rolled over. Carl seemed to have understood this. "Yeah, Jared mate, go back to sleep, it's really early."

Jared laughed his deep voice slightly husky and not used to being used yet. "I'm not tired, besides I better get home- 'K' will worry. Oh yeah, and you know you said it's too early to be up, yeah its two o'clock" He grinned and opened the curtains, letting the light stream into his friends tired faces. Carl squinted while his eyes adjusted; Andy winced as if the light hurt him, moaned again and pulled the blanket over his face. "See you on Monday!" Grinning, Jared went into the bathroom to get changed and found himself starring into the mirror. He wasn't being vain, he never cared about how he looked, but that was it. He looked better. Far from what he felt. But his russet skin was slightly tighter over his cheekbones, and he felt taller, more masculine… This was of course, insane. How could he have changed over night? This was weird. Something was up; Jared should definitely get home ASAP.

That fire was creeping back. His body was burning. Jared's vision was blurred and slowly clouding. He stumbled; the world was twisting before him. All he could hear was like the soundtrack to his dream, it muted all other noise, and Jared was trapped in the small cage that was his mind. He barely noticed he was home yet. He was going on instinct, all he could feel was pain. Jared tried hard to concentrate on getting to his bed but failed. He crumpled to the floor and lay there. The hard wooden floor of his room was strangely comforting. Savagely, the fire was scorching up him, licking softly and teasingly whiles what by now must be the charred remains of his body shuddered. A sudden jolt of heat made him roll onto his back, he slammed his eyes shut and moaned in agony. Jared had to grit his teeth to stop from screaming. The slow numb feeling of death washed over him, relieving his pain for a moment before it was gone. The receding wave of pain was unbearable; Jared arched his back off the hard floor and cried out in agony.

The next thing he knew, Jared was lying in bed, without a sheet or pillow and with a bag of water on his forehead. A sheen of sweat coated his shaking muscles which were now very defined under his dark skin. He couldn't remember what had happened since he'd come home from Carl's. But he felt terrible, like he was going to throw up but couldn't as there was nothing in his stomach.

Jared sat up; a bad idea. His head swam and he felt horribly luke-warm. He couldn't feel anything, as though his sense had been dulled. Everything was hazy and his brain took longer than usual to take everything in. He was at home. His room had been tidied, and there was a faint blood-stain on the wood a little bit away from the door. That was odd. As soon as Jared had thought it, he laughed darkly, what part of his weekend _hadn't_ been odd? But it still puzzled him, he hadn't been bleeding had he? He remembered fire, burning like nothing he'd felt before, but no cuts. He was very used to those. When you were as clumsy as Jared, you had no choice but to get used to them. So he started scanning his body for signs of recent bleeding. He gaped at what he saw, no blood, no, no mortal injury, but his body. _Was_ this his body? It was so strong and firm, he could now almost feel the absurd amount of power surging through him. He had defined muscles now, there was no missing them, strong abs and biceps and legs. He must have grown a fair bit too; he couldn't fit on his bed. Jared couldn't help but smile to himself. This was AWESOME. His once slender arms were now thick; the tendons protruded where there was no room for them, because his muscles were spectacular.

Then it all seemed to click. His vision was enhanced past any recognizable levels, he could hear cars rush past on the motorway, the motorway which was several miles away! He could smell the people on the street outside, taste different scents in the air that he hadn't even known existed. Was this all to do with the fire? That hungry mass that wouldn't let him go. Jared shivered at the memory.

He was quickly distracted by the sound of his sister waking up. How could he hear that?! She got out of bed and routinely walked down the hall to check on him.

"Jared! Oh honey, are you feeling better? Speak to me, are you okay Jared?"

He blinked, "yes 'K' I'm fine, and honestly I'm perfectly normal." Jared's eyes shifted as he remembered that wasn't exactly true. Normal was hardly the best way to describe this.

"But you've been out for a week; I was really worried you'd died of something." Jared went pale, a_ wee_k? He'd been out for a week!

"Well I'm fine now. I think I need some fresh air though, if I've been stuck inside for seven days. Probably a shower too I think. So I won't see you until tonight okay?" He was really eager to try himself out, test the limits of this new indestructible body.

"Be back by six then, I'll have your tea on the table by then, and take care, try not to die okay?"

Jared was already walking past her, out of his room, not caring what he had on. He couldn't care less who saw him now, and he was secretly proud of his new look. Jared never really having had much to show off about before.

Before he knew it Jared was in the woods and running, running unbelievably fast to his favorite spot, he felt so free and accepted here. He arrived within five minutes of running. This shocked him as it normally took at least half an hour; this spot was in the centre of his forest, the most remote. The furthest place he knew from human life. Thinking about it, Jared had never really been that human to begin with. So what was he? He hadn't been bitten by a spider, to his knowledge, and he was pretty sure he wasn't an alien; it was of course, only recently he'd – what _had_ happened?

Jared was quickly distracted from this trail of thought by more ideas. Firstly, he was fast, that wasn't hard to work out, and he was determined to find out how fast. Today's experiment would be about limits. Oh god, he really was such a nerd sometimes. He quickly forgot this when he started running again, sprinting, as fast as he could possibly go, and then he shuddered. The shudder didn't make him stop, but it was so unexpected, he wondered if something had gone wrong.

His body was changing, he could feel his clothes shredding as he grew, again, he felt as thought he were melting. He closed his eyes in hope that this would pass. When he re-opened them, he felt different. More instinctive. He looked around, and was shocked to find that there was white fur obscuring part of his vision. Jared saw the scraps of his boxers on the muddy forest floor. So…What? He was naked now? What kind of weird change was that? He glanced down again, in the slight hope something else was better..

His eyes were drawn to two large grey-brown paws. WHAT THE HELL?! If he were still human he would have stumbled over backwards in sheer shock. Jared tried to turn and look at himself but he couldn't see much other than a huge fluffy tail. Now he was panicking. Jared sprinted to where he knew there was a nice lake in the forest; there he would truly see himself. Only Jared wasn't sure that he really wanted to now. Did it really matter what disgusting monster he was now? There was no going back. And he decided he might as well know.

Approaching the massive, dark pool, Jared gulped and took a few deep breaths before building up the courage to look at his reflection. Starring back at him, with dark, intelligent eyes, was an insanely big wolf. After composing himself, he started to look at the wolf in awe, it was magnificent. Definitely strong, and impressively controlled for what looked like such a dangerous animal.

Jared was there for hour's just starring, taking in what he was. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. But he ended up thinking that he couldn't change it anyway, and went back to testing himself.

By the time the sun had set, he had discovered that it was easy to snap trees and break boulders. He could jump over the lake with a small run up, and he really, really loved being this free. Jared had finally found the escape he had been subconsciously searching for since his best friend was taken away from him five years ago. This was a place he couldn't feel the pain, or such emotions that he'd hated and felt weak for all those years because of.

It was about time he headed home, by the angle of the sun, and the colour of the sky. This may seem weird but Jared had never carried a watch in his life, and was used to having to guess the time from the sky; that was so much less delicate and more practical than these stupid little watches. So he headed back home to his sister. Only now realizing how hungry he was. After finally discovering how to change back to human form he also started worrying about needing clothes..

When he arrived home, Jared jumped into his room through the open window and pulled some clothes on. It seemed pointless as he needed a shower anyway, but he should at least be decent. Once downstairs, he ate everything K had made before remembering that she needed to eat as well. K just laughed, apparently glad that he had his appetite back, and insisting that it was fine, and she didn't need dinner anyway. Jared quickly gave up on the argument, he knew his sister was too stubborn to give in and besides, he was too tired to bother using up all the effort.

He barely summoned the energy to shower, which he direly needed. So Jared dragged himself up the stairs and stripped his clothes back onto the floor. The shower felt nice, but Jared had to set it to full power to feel the water properly, it barely tickled. About an hour later he half heartedly dried himself off, and collapsed onto his comfortable bed.

For the first night in ages; Jared slept soundly, whether it was due to his complete lack of energy, or something to do with this change. He wasn't complaining.

When Jared walked into school on Monday he was incredibly self-conscious, as if people would be able to tell he was a ware-wolf, just by looking at him. As well as having grown and developed to a very fit 25 year-old, his eyes had widened and, although usually very bright, had darkened somewhat. He looked more solemn and darkly impressive. Weirdly rugged yet innocent and uniquely superior. He now made Andy-who was, although a geek, by far the best looking guy he knew, look crudely cheesy and boringly the same as everyone else. But Jared didn't really count as one of them anymore did he. A knew race, a freak, an outcast. And the slight modifications would only ostracize him further. Great. He could already tell that school was going to suck today. He went over the story he'd thought up in his head before sighing, and walking into Mrs Blod's class. Jared braced himself for the routine interrogation that was registration.


End file.
